CD Review: Koko Beware

By Emily Bunn

The first thought that came to mind during my first listen to Koko Beware’s album Something About the Summer was surf rock. While the heavy reverb and head-bopping inducing beats hint at the once popular genre, the dissonant, rough vocals are more reminiscent of punk rock. The overall under-produced quality of the album along with the discord in each song gives a certain quirkiness that just works.

The album starts off strong with alternating male and female vocals in the opening track “Pretty Girls”, with the ever-present surf rock influence particularly prominent in this song. My favorite song from the album is the last track, “All Alone”. The opening line, “Sorry I was acting kinda shitty last night, I didn’t mean it” is so simple and honest that I can’t help but love it. It’s a love song in the most straightforward way with no fancy metaphors or deep lyrics and it’s still upbeat, which is a plus.

“Beach Babe” and “I Just Wanna Dance” both have catchy choruses that I found myself humming to myself for hours after first hearing them. No one song on Something About the Summer is perfect and there’s something that makes each song sound unpolished, in a way, and that works for Koko Beware. It’s an album full of catchy tunes and choruses that you can’t help but groove to. Even the exhausted students that came into the office I work in found themselves nodding along while it played.